The Chase

4 Luca

I went back to the pack lands, directly to the big house going down to the security room to announce my embarrassing failure tonight, giving them all the information I had. Seth the guard manning the camera room tonight made a face when I was done.

"That's it?" he asked, "You had a meal and didn't even get a phone number or last name?" I hated the face he made at me. Luca the idiot beta is what he was leaving unsaid. All muscles no brains. Same thing I had heard one way or another my entire life.

"She was at Howler's last night, maybe see if she paid with a card?" I offered weakly. Sighing, "She's the one that knocked down the human before running away..." Seth was still laughing as I made my exit, leaving Seth to start digging. I made my way to the upper floors and the Beta's apartment, to try and get some sleep. Hoping the tech wizards would have found something useful by morning's light.

I was awoken at eight am by a single text on my phone. 'The Sunset Hotel off Xavier street. Booked for only last night. Room 327.' Sent from the anti-personal Gold Creek IT do not reply email directly to my phone. She had never even left the neighborhood last night. She had backtracked nearly to the club. Which meant she was still nearby, and on what was technically pack territory. For the first time since starting to patrol night shifts, I was up and out of bed before noon. Getting dressed quickly and heading towards the hotel. It was early, she was out drinking last night, on vacation or some kind of business trip perhaps. She would still be there. I could try again over breakfast with her.

I arrived at the hotel, thrilled when I saw a familiar face working the desk this morning. "Ada!" I beamed at a face I hadn't seen much since I left the local school to focus on pack instead of living a normal looking life to the humans. She inflected her head, just a touch, a move I hated. Showing deference in public was stupid, no one should do it anymore. The old school Alpha's just said I didn't understand the weight of their titles, having been granted mine without the family heritage to back it.

"Luca, pleasure to see you, how can I help you?" Consummate, professional smile on her face. I was glad she just used my name instead of the insufferable title.

"My mate is inside this hotel, I'm going to meet her for breakfast." The joyful smile on Ada's face mirrored my own, she had been a real romantic in highschool, opening sharing poetry in English class. I thought she would like to know the reason her Beta was on human business property.

With a sweet sigh she bid him good luck and that she couldn't wait to meet her. She let me go into the hotel without any fuss. I was shifting on the balls of my feet the entire ride up in the elevator to the third floor, lunging out the door the moment the doors opened. Running down the hall to her room, where I was horrified to find a maids cart, the sheets already stripped from the beds, the maid almost done her work flipping the room for the next guests. I could smell my mate, and a female cat shifter and a human male all over the bedding. It had been late when she ditched me at the diner, and it was barely morning right now. Clearly this was her room, or at the very least where she spent a considerable amount of time last night.

I was growing increasingly upset as I tried to piece her night together, how her room could possibly smell this way. She did say she was meeting a friend, was it for a threeway? One of the scents was a shifter, did Evie already know about my kind. Most importantly, where the flying fuck was she?

She was already gone and there hadn't been any further updates from the IT team with information. They should have at least come up with a full name by now. I picked up my phone, just as a high alert text came in telling to return to the pack house asap. Directly from the Alpha. Shit was all I could say as I backtracked out of the hotel. Ignoring Ada as I rushed back to my truck, without my mate. Being summoned back to the pack house like a child.

I drove back quickly, it wasn't like Elijah to summon me to the pack house like this. Something must have happened. I was frustrated having to give up the search for my mate, but until the security team had another lead I was stuck at a dead end anyways.

I rounded the final bend in the long driveway that leads from the main road deep into the woods, out of sight of any humans and inhaled a sharp breath. A shiny black helicopter was parked on the lawn of the pack house. This was unexpected.

The moment I shifted the truck into park, Elijah was in my head telling me to get to the main conference room. He did not sound happy. He sounded like he had the day we found a traitor. It was only two months ago we were alerted to a dark coven spy in our pack. Elijah had been deeply upset, he had liked Orla, and his head hadn't been the same since he had to execute the dark witch. Heavy is the head that wears the Alpha title.

I braced myself for anything. Steeling my nerves as I raced up the steps, into the main house and directly into the conference room. Elijah was there, along with Seth and Chet from IT and security, everyone looking like they had been yelled at. Then there were faces I did not recognize. All puma shifters and all looking at me like I had stolen all the catnip and shit in their litter.

"Alpha" I inflected to Elijah as I entered. Deciding this was a time to follow the old school rules and not push my luck. Elijah's eyes directing me to sit across from the angry looking guests.

"Curtis is the pride leader of the pumas from Vancouver, he has some serious concerns about why our security team have been looking for information on his daughter, care to explain Luca." Elijah was pissed.

I was too stunned to worry about Elijah's rage right now. "Evie is your daughter?" I said dumbly, she was human, she smelled human. How was this possible? My brain running a mile a minute trying to make the pieces fit.

"Evie?" Curtis visibly relaxed hearing I was looking for Evie. "Not Sara?" he asked to confirm, a glint in his eyes I did not like.

I shook my head, "I ran into my fated mate last night, but uhh," I stalled, Christ it had been bad enough admitting my failure to just Seth, this sucked. Today sucked. "She got away from me before I could get her full name or a phone number or anything, I just wanted to find my mate." Sara must have been the cat shifter I smelled on the sheets. Still did not explain the other man that had been all over the sheets with them.

My already severely wounded pride was not prepared for Curtis and all his lackeys to burst out laughing at me. Deep, rolling from the belly laughs until they were all wiping errant tears from their eyes. Once he had composed himself, Curtis got up from the table, minions in toe. "Sorry for the rude drop in visit Alpha, we will be on our way now." Elijah dipped his head, offering to see them all to the door.

Curtis dropped one of his hands on my shoulder as he walked by, pausing only long enough to tell me, "Good luck dog, I'm feeling generous so I'll give you a name, Evangalina Marie Bowman. If your goddess really wants you together that should be enough." A firm clap on my shoulder as he chuckled one last time. Finally leaving.

I stayed in the conference room after a very pointed look from Elijah before he took the uninvited guests back to their helicopter. Cats, it had to be cats my mate was involved with. Seth slinked out the moment Elijah had left with a sheepish look on his face. He knew something and he hadn't told me. I should be in bed mating Evie over and over until she couldn't walk, let alone run away from me ever again. Not sat in a conference room frustrated.

I was stewing over how badly I had messed everything up. I wasn't made for complicated things. This all had complicated written all over it. I just wanted my mate. So many of our pack met their mates before finishing highschool. Elijah and I hadn't. It felt like I had been waiting forever.

Elijah had only met his mate last month. Lark was his complete opposite, sweet Lark was all heart. They had met at a Lunar Luna Party in Seattle thrown by Lark's sister in law. The theme that had brought them together was Attack On Titan, and Michael's immense desire to talk with someone who "Got it." I tried to watch the show with him, but I was so stuck on why there was flying whale in one season's opening credits and I just couldn't get over it. Way too much happened in that show for me to understand all the details and nuances.

A random party Elijah decided to go to because I couldn't keep up with an Anime show and he found his mate. Was already expecting his first child. We had been in sync our entire lives and I had a chance to have what he had finally found and it was all going to shit around me. I was miserable.